Daiya Cheese

I've recently been introduced to Daiya Cheese. It is a MSPI-friendly cheese created from natural products. It is the best "fake" cheese that I have ever tasted! Like the label claims, it really does stretch and melt very similar to real cheese. We enjoy it on nachos and tortillas, on sandwiches, etc. I wouldn't suggest eating the cheese in it's non-melted state because it does have a slight after-taste. But once it's melted it tastes great. It sells in 8 oz bags for $4-5 per bag.

Brands That Do NOT List Potential Allergens

-Pinnacle Food Group (Also unable to give information over the phone.)

I will update this list as I have time to contact more companies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Life is a bit more complete now that I have discovered chocolate chips that are MSPI-friendly. They are made by the brand Enjoy Life and can be purchased online and at select health food stores. When used with Spectrum Palm Oil Shortening, they make for some delicious chocolate chip cookies. (Or eat the chips by the handful for some surprisingly good MSPI-friendly chocolate!)

Brands That List Potential Allergens

Thanks to the FDA, all companies are required to clearly state allergen ingredients on their labels. However, they are not required to list potential allergens from cross contamination. I am compiling a list of major companies that have chosen to go ahead and do so on their products.

-ConAgra (List of Brands)
-Kraft (List of Brands)
-Market Pantry/Archer Farms (Target)
-PepsiCo (Pepsi, Quaker Oats, Frito Lay, Tropicana, Gatorade)
-General Mills (List of Brands)
-Kellogg's (List of Brands)
-Great Value (Walmart)
-Perdue
-Just Born
-Hershey's
-Kirkland (Costco)

I'll update this list as I get information from more companies.

Diagnosing Child #1

I first realized that something was wrong with my son's diet when he was about 2 weeks old and was up at night wheezing. He didn't seem to be sick, but thinking maybe a cold was coming on, I went to the store in the middle of the night to get a humidifier. It didn't help at all. His next symptom was projectile vomiting. At this point he was mostly breastfed with a little supplementing of regular milk-based formula. I read in the book What To Expect The First Year that projectile vomiting was often a sign of a milk allergy. Unfortunately I cannot remember many of the details of the situation because I was so sleep deprived, but I know that shortly after reading this particular book I changed my diet to be rid of all milk sources (but I was still able to have traces of milk just fine). My son improved dramatically. His vomiting stopped. His "sick" symptoms went away. At his 2 month well baby visit, his doctor diagnosed him with a type of milk allergy (milk protein intolerance). I supplemented with soy formula. It took me a few months to get used to eating the different diet. Once I made a spaghetti mix packet and didn't read the label carefully to see that there was dried milk or some other milk product in it. He vomited for the next 24 hours after he ate my breast milk that was contaminated with the dairy. It usually took 4 hours for the dairy to enter my breast milk supply, and then another 24 hours for it to get out. Whenever I ate something on accident that had dairy I would have to pump the next 24 hours while my son had soy formula in a bottle. His growth was minimal, but he was healthy until age six months when he started to get sick frequently.

Purpose of this blog

I created this blog to #1) track information about MSPI-friendly foods and #2) share with the online community what I have learned from raising two children with MSPI.

My boys have what I consider to be a more severe form of MSPI. They cannot tolerate any form of cow's milk or soy (including soy oil/soy lecithin), any nutrients derived from cow's milk, any traces of milk or soy, or the gums that are similar to soy (guar gum and arabic/acacia gum).

In the beginning of their diagnosis I really struggled to find foods that I could feed them, whether those foods be homemade or prepared. Because I was nursing my younger child, I also had to alter my diet so that it was free of all the foods my baby couldn't digest himself.

For this blog I plan to share our story more in-depth as well as go into detail on allergy labeling and "safe" brands.